Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Doctor Who The Highest Science by Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts. Gareth Roberts (born Gareth John Pritchard Roberts 5 June 1968 [1] ) was a writer for Doctor Who and several of its spin-offs. His first contributions to Doctor Who , in the early 1990s, were several novels in Virgin Books' New Adventures and Missing Adventures lines; these books were generally well-received by fans, with four of them eventually being adapted by Big Finish in their Novel Adaptations range. Roberts went on to contribute to a wide variety of other Doctor Who ranges and media, including novels for subsequent Doctors and several episodes of the television show. As a fan of the Graham Williams/Douglas Adams era, he used the Fourth Doctor, Romana II, and K9 TARDIS team more than any other Virgin writer; years later, he was chosen to be the BBC Wales representative for the documentary about the Graham Williams era included with the UK DVD release of The Ribos Operation , and he would later novelise the unfinished Douglas Adams script Shada . Roberts' debut in comics was 1994's Plastic Millenium , which was the first appearance of Mel in comics. He went on to be a recurring comics writer during the Ninth Doctor's era, and he would often reuse ideas from his comics for his television episodes: he showed the Ninth Doctor visiting William Shakespeare in A Groatsworth of Wit before writing the episode The Shakespeare Code ; and his series 5 episode The Lodger was an adaptation of his 2006 comic of the same name. In September 2017, Roberts posted a tweet on his Twitter account that gained some media attention for being trans-misogynistic. [2] [3] [4] [5] In early May 2019, BBC Books released details about an upcoming Doctor Who anthology that would include a short story by Roberts; [6] a month later, Roberts announced in an article that his story would not be included in the anthology after other contributing writers threatened to withdraw from the publication due to Roberts' tweets. [7] Outside of official Doctor Who , Roberts contributed to the charity reference book Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who , and was interviewed in issue 485 of Doctor Who Magazine for the revival series' tenth anniversary. Jacob Licklider: Reviews. To begin this review I am writing this short preface to just give a little sneak peek so to say on what exactly to expect from The Highest Science, mainly its secondary villains, summed up nicely into three very simple words. The words go thusly: Cyborg Space Turtles. Now if you have been following these reviews you will know that I despised Transit and I felt that these novels would go in this direction of making it really adult unnecessarily. So imagine the jarring transition when Gareth Roberts introduces the Chelonians, or as I like to call them Cyborg Space Turtles, who are hilarious, has the guts to have a prophecy be written in the lyrics of a song mainly listened to by hippies, a disappearing planet, and the twist of The Hand of Fear. Seriously Roberts goes crazy pulling off all the crazy to Douglas Adams levels of hilarity and only about half of it is played for comedy. Oh and he puts the Doctor into a situation where he isn’t in control. With this amount of crazy in the novel there will be at least something that you will find funny or at least enjoyable. Gareth Roberts Interview. Gareth Roberts should be a familiar name to followers of the Virgin New Adventures line. His first novel The Highest Science won deserved acclaim amongst fandom, both for its adherence to traditional Doctor Who elements (monsters, quarries and corridors), and its emphasis on characterisation and humour. To meet Gareth John Pritchard Roberts (born 5/6/68) is to encounter a subtle (and hilarious) barrage of impressions, anecdotes and innuendo. Witty and articulate, Gareth is quite possibly the only being on the planet who can discuss Doctor Who for an entire evening and not be boring for an instant. We should all be thankful that he's on our side. Gareth's second novel, Tragedy Day , will be released in the UK in March 1994 with an NZ release in June. He was reluctant to discuss plot details, but having seen excerpts and descriptions of the story. I can assure you all: it's gonna be a humdinger. Miss it at your own peril. A number of factors prohibited a 'live' interview, but Gareth consented to answer a list of (mainly coherent) questions I sent to his home in idyllic Winchester, Hampshire, England. Have you always wanted to be a writer? I've always been interested in words and sentences. As a child, I filled exercise books with stories. These relied heavily on robots and ghosts and gratuitous violence. I liked to invent new words and still do. So writing is something I've always enjoyed, but it doesn't fully satisfy me. People like Paul Cornell and Andrew Cartmel were destined to be writers; they ooze it. I don't think I do. What was the genesis of The Highest Science ? The title of The Highest Science and the vague outline of the Sheldukher story had been floating about at the back of my mind for years. I found myself out of work in the summer of 1990 (I was between terms at university) and having seen the guidelines for the New Adventures, thought I'd give it a go. My first submission was fairly dire. Virgin wrote back and said, 'Nice idea, do this, do that'. I complied and then waited for a year. I was commissioned in October 1991 and I wrote the book comparatively quickly, in order to clear the decks for my finals. The major change was that Ace became Bernice. Did the story change significantly as it developed? As I write, I am constantly thinking, 'How can I improve this? How can I make this sequence more diverting?' My aim is for there to be at least two things that are witty or exciting or intriguing on every page. I try to keep things moving as fast as possible. With The Highest Science , the book improved on the original outline in a number of ways. When you're writing, things that looked startlingly witty or exciting in the outline can become very dull. I suppose one thing that changed was that neither the Ethers nor the Constructs were in the original outline, and I think the Cell survived. It's all a long time ago. The Highest Science doesn't seem to have any continuity references to past TV stories - was that deliberate? It does have a few throwaway references. Really, it's a case of not being terribly interested in carrying on other people's work. I would much rather create my own characters and concepts. One thing I do find fun is to play with the strange science of Doctor Who . I don't possess a grain of scientific knowledge, so the idea of being able to record personality traits on pieces of wire and the like appeals to me. My vision of Doctor Who is a progressive one. I feel bored by old cobblers coming round again and again. It's rather like sleeping with an ex-lover. You can't turn the clock back. What's your earliest memory of Doctor Who ? Part one of The Three Doctors , where the gel seeps from the manhole in the UNIT garage. I was hooked instantly. That gel has a lot to answer for. Who would you cite as influences? My favourite Doctor Who authors are Robert Holmes, David Fisher and Chris Boucher. Unfettered, they understood the series and what made it so popular better than anybody else. The strength of their writing comes from a concentration on characters. It's a lesson I am learning slowly. Holmes' best works ( The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Ribos Operation , and The Caves of Androzani ) almost wrote themselves because the characters and their motivations are so well drawn. Outside the canon, my favourite writers include Barbara Comyns, Truman Capote, and a quite brilliant Scottish novelist called Shena McKay. Her work includes the novel Dunedin , which contrasts the lives of Scottish settlers in NZ at the turn of the century with their descendants living in present-day London. Seek, locate and absorb. You've been dealing mainly with the McCoy Doctor - how does he compare with the other six? I quite like the idea of the Seventh Doctor. I remember being hugely excited by Remembrance of the Daleks , but the idea of the cosmic manipulator is a hell of a pig of a notion to sustain effectively, and was showing signs of strain in 1989. In addition, Sylvester's performances were rather variable. I liked the novelty of the approach, but I wish there hadn't been so many returning enemies. And some of the stories weren't very well made. I don't mind tacky sets - I do mind blaring music and incomprehensible editing. My other favourites are Survival, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and The Happiness Patrol . Heretically, I prefer Season 24 to 26, which I find rather inward-looking and impenetrable. As far as the character of the Doctor goes, I've tried to concentrate on what I liked. What is your favourite period of the TV show? The Tom Baker era is my firm favourite. He captures the essential essence of the Doctor so well and is such a magnetic personality in that role.